Moriah. May 9, 2018

Alex and I are alternating writing the trip reports. So, to check out our last hike in the White Mountains, go to Alex's blog.

Carter Moriah Trail, 9 miles, 3550 feet

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We started out in daylight, feeling warmer than we have in months.  Instead of our usual long-sleeves, we had T-shirts under our coats.  The warm weather affected our mood, and we were all pretty chipper.

The trail was relatively flat starting out...

A slight hill, but the sun was so beautiful we didn't really notice!

Silhouette!

 This was amazing to see. I can only imagine the multitude of organisms that live in the dirt and old roots.

The trail started to go up more steeply, but it wasn't too bad yet...

Some views!

We started to see the first signs of snow after we passed the summit of Mount Surprise.  However, we delayed putting on our microspikes for as long as we could.

We finally caved about our microspikes after we slipped a couple of times.  It was easier than we thought to put microspikes over trail runners, though the microspikes were a bit big.

We finally got to the sign by the summit!

An artistic photo... 

The very small sign...

We got to the summit and walked onto a beautiful rock ledge with amazing views and a very blue sky.  It was a wonderful day!

We stopped for longer than we usually do on the summit, as it was such a beautiful warm day!

Heading down...

We noticed a huge amount of feathers strewn about the trail while we were nearing the bottom of the mountain.  This was the largest grouping of them; it was very strange.

The very last stretch of trail before the car...

And we were done!

It was a wonderful hike on a beautiful warm day.  It truly felt like spring!

North and South Kinsman. April 18, 2018

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Lonesome Lake Trail, Fishin' Jimmy Trail, Kinsman Ridge Trail.
5 miles one way with around 3400 feet of elevation gain.

When we got to the trailhead, we were happy to find that it was getting lighter by the minute.  The sky was a sureal blue-gray; it was a great environment in which to start the day.

The campground by the trailhead

The trailhead sign (it was getting lighter!)

The trail soon after we started up; it was packed out, so we just had on microspikes.

The intersection with Hi-Cannon Trail

These next few pictures are of the beautiful Lonesome Lake; it was completely iced (and snowed) over.

The lake from a different angle

Rabbit tracks!  There were a lot of them on the trail.

After the hut, we put on our snowshoes, as there were about 2-3 inches of snow on the trail.  The amount of snow increased to 6-7 inches up top.

Some (trying to be artistic) photographs of snow/ice on trees

Here is the Kinsman Ridge Trail sign buried in snow; we almost didn't see it!  From here we headed up to North Kinsman.

This is at the same intersection as the picture above.  This sign was mostly spared from the snow!

Heading up North Kinsman...

We're there!  The sky was clouded over, but we were happy to be at the top anyway.  After a short break, we headed to South Kinsman.  Between the two peaks, there were many blowdowns and the trail was sometimes hard to find.

South Kinsman!  It was colder than North Kinsman, but the beautiful snow-covered rocks were worth it!

Alex taking pictures...

We headed back down, stopping sometimes for water and food breaks.  Before we knew it, we were back at the car!  Time flies when you're having fun!

This hike was fun (and tiring), and filled with ice and Chex Mix.  The mere quantity of snow was astounding for mid-April.  While winter transforms the Whites into a white wonderland, I'm ready for spring and warmth!  Besides this, it was a wonderful trek and a nice break from our studies.